Menstruation as a gendered weapon of control: Humiliation of women in U.S. prisons

Abstract

Incarcerated women in the US often struggle to access free period products. Yet, their challenges are not well understood, partly because the provision of period products within prisons is governed by state policies. To understand barriers to accessing period products and their impacts on well-being, in-depth qualitative semistructured interviews were conducted with formerly incarcerated women in a southeastern U.S. state. Six themes were developed using reflexive thematic analysis, revealing dimensions of menstrual well-being beyond merely material access related to WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene). The data demonstrate not only barriers to WASH but also systemic control, which renders the female body an object of humiliation under the typically male gaze of wardens and guards. Using Foucault's explication of the panopticon as a metaphor for disciplinary control, we demonstrate how systemic carceral control utilizes the female processes of menstruation to create a gendered gaze, thereby adding the concept of systemic disciplinary gaze to theorization of period poverty. In practice, we recommend that carceral facilities reframe menstruation not as an illness but as an ordinary part of health functioning, reconsider the impacts of mandatory schedules on menstrual hygiene, and treat WASH as a human right.